Decorative light strings are used in a wide variety of applications, such as non-seasonal store displays. One of their widest uses is as Christmas lights, when they are used to decorate yards, fences, and houses and other structures. However, this seasonal use of such light strings requires that the light strings be stored for much of the year. In storage, the light strings tend to become tangled, resulting in wasted time involved in untangling the light strings before they can be re-hung as Christmas approaches. The tangling can become so severe that the light string must be thrown away as unusable. These tangling problems are more severe with newer, and very popular, light strings such as icicle lights.
To provide a solution to the tangling and storage problem, various devices for storing light strings have been suggested. These devices often involve a flat card or base around which the light string must be meticulously wound. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,317,491 to Lee discloses a flat, stiff mounting plate with integrated, uniformly-spaced slotted tabs, allowing for the light string wire to be wound around the plate and the lights to be inserted into the slots.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,526,931 to White discloses a slotted base card with swivel-pivots, so that the card may be axially rotated to wind and un-wind the light string on the card. In White, slots in the card do not hold individual sockets. Rather, they provide saddles for the wire to fit into to prevent its slipping off of the card. White additionally discloses integrated holes in the card to allow the card to be hung on hooks for storage. However, the light string must be wound onto the card manually, and must be unwound for re-use.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,064,067 to McAllister, et al., discloses a generally rectangular frame around which a light string can be would, with tooth-like projections at the edges of the frame to prevent the wire from slipping. Unlike White, the teeth of the device disclosed in McAllister, et al. are narrowly spaced, and require that the light string be wound with only one loop between each pair of teeth. Thus the light string must be carefully wound about the frame to utilize each available gap and avoid wasting space. The device of McAllister, et al., additionally discloses the use of an integral hook to hang the frame for storage. As with the device of White, the light string must be manually wound and un-wound from the frame.
Each of these devices provides some means for storing light strings, but each requires effort on the user's part to properly wind the light string about the device, and in some cases, to insert individual light sockets into slots. Further, these devices do not provide protection for multiple, dangling, sub-strings, such as those found on icicle lights. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a device to allow consumers to quickly and easily prepare light strings for storage in a way which prevents tangling and protects the lights against breakage.
It is a goal of the invention to provide a device to quickly prepare light strings for storage.
It is a further goal of the invention to allow light strings to be quickly removed from storage and to be prepared for re-hanging.
It is another goal of the invention to protect light strings against breakage and tangling while in storage.